Serendib Kitchen

(45 minutes, serves 6) In Sri Lanka, hibiscus is commonly known as shoeflower, and is a popular edible flower used in sambols, curries, and beverages. The variety grown there (rosa sinensis) is not quite as tangy as sabdariffa (the variety most commonly used for hibiscus tea), but has a similar delicate flavor. Where I live,

(15-20 minutes, serves 4 as a side) In Sri Lanka, hibiscus grows freely in many gardens, and it’s easy to pick some for a curry. It’s a little harder to come by fresh hibiscus blossoms here in Chicagoland, but dried hibiscus is readily available in local Latino markets and online, and coconut milk helps rehydrate

This relish grew out of a need to use the last of my pickling cucumbers from the garden (we’d already pickled so many!), and a recipe from Jehan at Island Smile (https://www.islandsmile.org). Their original recipe was a simple quick pickle, and you could certainly do just that, for a fresh note on your rice and

In America, this is the perfect end-of-season chutney, using up the tomatoes that didn’t have a chance to ripen. It balances sweet, tangy, spicy, and salty, but the fabulous part of making your own chutney is that you can easily adjust seasonings to taste. So if you want it a bit sweeter, add a little

Really missing traveling this morning. We promised our daughter we’d take her to Paris for her 13th birthday, sort of to make up for having to spend a year not traveling at all, e-learning, etc. A year should give us time to save up for the trip. I’ve been there once for work and was

I’m going through all of my Sri Lankan cookbooks, trying to decide which new recipes to add to Vegan Serendib. The Ceylon Daily News cookbook is a classic — it’s also pretty funny! It’s at least half western cuisine, I think mostly British, and a sampling of the luncheon menus provided will give you a

Quick note that Feast is marked down to $30.80 at Amazon right now (down from $40) — great time to pick up a holiday gift or two (or just a present for yourself!) https://smile.amazon.com/Feas…/dp/1645432750/ref=sr_1_1…

Oh, it’s going to be a little difficult deciding which recipes to include in Vegan Serendib. The temptation is, of course, to put more and more in, to make it really comprehensive. But every time you add a recipe with a color photo, you add some cost to the production of the book. So add

(1 hour prep, 20 minutes cooking, serves 8) My vegetarian friends are particularly fond of this dish. It offers a bright note, with its raw onion and lime juice, that wakes up a plate of rice and curry. 1 eggplant 1 rounded tsp salt 1 rounded tsp turmeric oil for deep frying 3 fresh green